NEW DELHI: The Congress may soon release the third list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, according to leaders who attended the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on Tuesday. The party has so far announced candidates for 82 Lok Sabha seats of the total 543.
The meeting also decided candidates for as many as 12 seats in West Bengal, according to sources. The uncertainty over seat-sharing talks with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has delayed the decision, as Congress was hopeful of closing a deal with the Mamata Banerjee-led party. However, the TMC has announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats recently.
The TMC has also fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan from the Berhampore seat, held by state Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Chowdhury has been a MP from Berhampore since 1999. Chowdhury’s constant attack on Mamata Banerjee was one of the reasons for the breakdown of the seat-sharing talks between both the parties.
The Congress is also in talks with the CPM-led Left Front in the state. The Left parties have already announced a list of 16 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls while making it clear that the party is keeping its options open for Congress. Sources said that the seat-sharing talks between CPM and the Congress are in progress.
The meeting discussed the names of candidates for over 80 seats in states including West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the remaining seats for Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, among others.
Hinting that the third list of candidates will be released on Wednesday, Karnataka Chief Minister M Siddaramaiah told the media, “We will announce our list of candidates on Wednesday.” Karnataka sends 28 members to the Lok Sabha.
After the meeting, AICC-in-charge of Rajasthan, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also said, “We will have a meeting on Wednesday and settle it.”
Sources said that decision on six seats has been taken in Telangana. In the first round, four seats have been announced. Chevella MP Ranjit Reddy, who crossed over to Congress from BRS recently, will be fielded from either Malkajgiri or Chevella, said sources. Former BRS MLA Danam Nagender will be fielded from Secunderabad.
EC allows postal ballot for mediapersons
As promised by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar at a press conference last Saturday, the poll panel on Tuesday issued an order allowing mediapersons to vote through postal ballot. The facility has been given to mediapersons as their activities have been added to the definition of essential services included in the list of absentee voters, the Election Commission said in the order.